Peach Cobbler

By Kathryn Washburn Breighner

We're still swamped with peaches! For this recipe, I picked up a bowl full of peaches from the ground to make this fabulous peach cobbler. I like lots of fruits in my pies, cobblers and crisps and so for any recipe where 4 c of fruit is called for, I add six. For this cobber, I used 8 c because the fruit needs to be used.

To start, bring a bowl of water to a boil and drop the peaches in the water. Using a slotted spoon, remove the peaches after 1 minutes and drop into a bowl or sink of cold water. Remove the skins and the stone and put the cut peaches in an 8 c bowl.

To the bowl of peaches, add and stir together:
1 t cinnamon
2 T brown sugar
2 T flour
1 t vanilla

Pour the peach mixture into a greased baking pan or pie plate. Using the same bowl that the peaches were in (to save on clean up!), add:

1 c flour
3/4 c brown sugar
4 T cold butter
1 t baking powder
1/2 baking soda
a pinch of salt
2 t grated lemon peel
3/4 c buttermilk

Cut the butter into the dry ingredients with a fork or pastry cutter until the pieces of butter and pea size.  Stir n the buttermilk and blend quickly. The dough will be wet.

Top the peaches with large dollops of the dough and bake at 425 degree F for 20 minutes. Top with ice cream or yogurt.

Peach Sorbet

By Kathryn Washburn Breighner

We've been on a peach kick the last few weeks because our peach tree is abundant with delicious fruit. And we've been making lots of sorbet this summer from various fresh fruits like strawberry, blueberry and now peach.

This is an easy dessert to make but takes some planning ahead time as well as freezing time depending on the ice cream maker that you have. Our ice cream maker requires freezing the canister for 24 hours ahead of time so I always keep it in the freezer just in case I want to make a frozen dessert.

First, I went outside and picked a bunch of peaches!  Then I boiled some water and dropped the peaches in for about one minute to make it easy to remove the skins. I didn't need a knife; I just peeled the skins away with my fingers.

Into a blender, I put:
6 c peaches

The peaches were blended until creamy. Then I added:
1 c sugar
4 1/2 t lemon juice
4 1/2 t vodka

No, the vodka does not affect the flavor but it does help the sorbet freeze more smoothly and without crystals forming.

The mix was blended for just 10-15 seconds, just until well mixed, and then chilled for 3-4 hours. This is a one container recipe--I blended all the ingredients in the blender and chilled it in the same container.

The peach mix was poured into the ice cream maker and 25 minutes later, a thick peach sorbet was ready. We couldn't wait: we ate some of the soft peach sorbet and then froze the remainder in a plastic container for later use.  I will be making more of this to freeze for later--I can just imagine a January night eating this sorbet and thinking of summer!

Grilled Peaches

By Kathryn Washburn Breighner

This is such a simple dessert and perfect this time of year when our peach tree is loaded.  I have grilled the fruit both outside on the grill and inside in a grill pan. Both are easy. Don't have a grill? No Problem, get out the grill pan and cook the fruit inside.

Plan on 2-3 peaches per person depending on their size--our's our small. Baste the fruit with balsamic vinegar and sprinkle lightly with brown sugar or honey. Grill the peaches 3-4 minutes with the skin side down and then turn over and grill with the fruit side up for another 3-4 minutes.

While the fruit is grilling, get out the ice cream and yogurt!

Fresh Peaches with Brown Sugar & Sour Cream

By Kathryn Washburn Breighner

I'm not sure this dessert qualifies as a recipe. It is oh-so-simple and very tasty.

Slice fresh peaches and place in serving dishes so that each dish has 1 c of peach slices.

Top each serving with 2 t brown sugar and 2 t sour cream.

When this is served, stir together the sugar and sour cream with the peaches. The peach juices mix with the sugar and sour cream making a golden syrup. The syrup brings out the best in the fresh peaches.